All Gus'ed Up: DIY Nail Polish Cabinet

July 07, 2014

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I'm sure by now you've seen those DIY nail polish cabinets/shelves that are all over Pinterest and every other site remotely connected with beauty. Some are made of foamboard and others are made of wood. Lulu decided that she needed one, so Gus and I worked together to give the girl what she wanted!

I looked at several different "plans", discussed the size and other particulars with Lulu, and then came up with my own version. Gus was the grunt labor - cutting all of the wood and doing all of the painting. One thing I wanted to add was a removable back piece that could be covered with fabric. That way Lulu would have the option of changing it up a bit.

Gus didn't have any fancy tools when we made this (although he got a cool Ryobi table saw for Father's Day, so future projects will be easier!), and we wanted to spend a minimum amount of time sanding/finishing, so we spent a little more to get higher grade wood. Of course, that translated into a higher cost. My point is, you could probably make this for less than we did if you don't mind sanding.

Once all of the boards were cut and the ends sanded, Gus painted them. Then came the fun part of evenly spacing them! We lined up the 21" boards against one of the 25" boards, adjusted them until they were spaced evenly...

then marked the placement.

Gus drilled pilot holes for all of the nails...

and then nailed the shelves in place.

Next, we measured, cut, and sanded the edges of the trim for the front of the shelves. Not only is it decorative, but it's a little taller than the shelves, so it makes a "lip" that will help keep the bottles on the shelves. We attached the trim with wood glue and three tiny finishing nails.

Next, Gus did the finishing work - countersinking all of the nails, filling the holes, then sanding once dry.

Since I wanted Lulu to be able to easily change the background fabric, we had to design a way to slide the fabric board in and out, while keeping it fairly snug between the back and the shelves. I found some square dowels at Hobby Lobby that were just a bit thicker than a sheet of foam board - perfect! We used wood glue and finishing nails to attach a dowel to each side and the bottom of the cabinet, keeping them flush with the outer edges of the cabinet - then we painted them.

For the back of the cabinet, we used a piece of birch plywood. We put the cabinet on the plywood, traced the shape, then cut it out. Once we made sure it was the right size, we sanded the edges and painted it.

For the removable fabric insert, I used a piece of white foam board. To get the correct size, I measured the open area on the back of the cabinet - the area between the dowels. The foam board had to be slightly smaller than this so that it could be removed, so I cut inside the measured lines.

I cut a piece of fabric to fit, adding 4 inches to each side so that it could be folded over the edges. I sprayed the foam board with repositionable adhesive, and applied the fabric, folding the edges to the back and applying more spray adhesive to hold them in place. Then all I had to do was slide the fabric board into the "pocket"!

I can't believe I can't find the picture of Gus showing how to remove the fabric board! So sorry!! But here is the cabinet with the fabric board in place.

Love, love, love this fabric! Found it at Hobby Lobby!

Lulu loves her cabinet - and she liked the fabric so much that I went back to buy more so that I can make matching pillows!